Envelop-lock.



v G. F. SMITH.

ENVELOP LOCK.

APPLICATION FILED NOV-20, 1915.

1,177,364. Patented Mar. 28, 1916.

WITNESSES I G F ZIZNJ ENTUR- v l7?! 6 3 W r H AITOHNEYS THE COLUMBIAPLANOGRAPH (20.. WASHINGTON, n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE E. SMITH, ornnw pnx, 15 Y., r s's'ienon or ONE-HALF ro HARRY H. V

nrsrnnv, on NEW YORK, NY.

ENvnLoP-Loc Specification of Letters Patent. P t nt Man 2 1 ApplicationfiledNovember 20, 1915. Serial No. 62,521.

a citizen of the United States, and aresident of the city of New York,borough of Manhattaminthe county and State ofNew York, have invented anew and Improved Envelop-Lock, of which the following. is' a full,clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to sheet'metal fasteners adapted-especially forsealing or lock ,ingenvelopsor similar contain'ers' so that they-cannotbe opened without detection.

Among the objects of the invention, therefore, is'to provide an improvedform of fastener adapted for the above stated purpose.

.Another object of the invention is to constructa paper or similarcontainer adapted for use especially'with my improved sheet metaldevice.

lVith the foregoing and other objects in view the invention consists inthe arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter described andclaimed, and while the invention is not restricted to the exact detailsof construction disclosed herein,'still for the purpose of illustratinga practical embodiment thereof reference is had to the accompanyingdrawings, in which like reference characters designate the same parts inthe several views, and in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of the'sheet metal fastener or locking device in the form assumed by it justprior to application to the container; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of apaper container shown in the form of an envelop. theouter sealing flapbeing open in normal position and showing the lower flap turned downfrom its normal position to better indicate the relative arrangement ofthe end flaps; Fig. 3. is a central transverse sectional view indicatingthe envelop locked: and Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view on theline 11 of Fig. 3.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings I show at 10 a sheetmetal device formed preferably by stamping from a strip of metal ofuniform thickness and comprising upper and lower tongues or plates 11and 12 respectively connected along a bending line 13. The tongues arepreferably of the same fo m and size and are adapted to overlap eachother when the device is in looking position.

V g The upper tongue is formed-with a pair of prongs 14: struck out fromthe body of the plate and downwardly toward the bottom plate,- thepoints of'theprongs being spread apart slightly to a distance greater'than the distance between the bases'of the prongs. with a pair of slits15 formedparallelto each other'longitudinally of the plate, and thatportion 16 of the plate between the slits is bent downwardly from themain portion ofthe plate so as to provide lateral openings between theends of the portion 16 and the main body of the plate. The portion 16 oranvil is arranged in such posi-' tion as to be engaged by the points ofthe prongs when the two plates are bent against or toward each other,the slits being slightly farther apart than the distance between thepoints of the prongs.

. The container is shown in the form ofan envelop made along somewhatconventional lines in so far as the front 17, endflaps 1S and bottomflap 19 are concerned. The flaps 18 are formed to overlapeach other atthe middle portion of thecontainer, and the bottom flap is designed tobegummed directly upon the overlapping portions of the end flaps in theusual manner. This overlapping of the end and bottom flaps mayconstitute what is termed an anchor portion of the container.

The upper sealing flap 20 is provided with a tongue 21 at its centralportion and at its free edge. This tongue is of sufiicient length to liedouble squarely upon the overlapping portions of the sealing flaps 18and 19. The

The, bottom plate 12 is provided tongue may be secured in any suitablemanner to the flap 20 but preferably is made integral therewith asindicated. The extreme end of the tongue '21 is bent beneath the mainportion of the tongue and adapted to lie ina plane between the planes ofthe upper flap 20 and the lower flap 19.

The manner of application and operation of the invention may be brieflydescribed as follows: 7

The plate 11' is slipped into the space he tween the two parts of thetongue with the free edge of the plate within the crotch formed by thetwo parts of the tongue and with the points of the prongs projected fthrough the free endof the tongue inwardly with respect to the envelopwhen closed.

' After thus connecting the fastener to the tongue 21 the base plate 12is slipped beneath the, overlapping central portions of the end andbottom flaps, the upper flap being bent to accommodate this action; Allthe parts will now be in position approximating the final position, anda firm pressure or blow upon the outer surface of the tongue madeapplicable at the same time upon the upper plate 11 of thefastener willforce the points of the prongs 14: directly through the overlappingportions of the flaps l8 and 19 and against the upper surfaceof theanvil 16. Since the prongs are slightly away from each other, theapplication of force thereto will cause the points thereof to bedirected outwardly lat erally from each other through the slits, and

thereby the prongs will be securely clenched through the free end of thetongue, the overlapping portions of the flaps 18 and 19, and beneath theside portions of the base 12, as shown in Fig. l, though in a somewhatdistorted position due to the fact that the paper in practice will notbe so thick as indicated by the figure. The anvil constitutes theclencher and at the same time protects the contents of the container(not shown) from damage by the points of the prongs. The

device is cheap in construction, simple or application, and of such anature as to dispense with the necessity for applying gum or moisture tothe sealing flap 20, and at thesame time providing a means whereby thecontainer ispractically locked against surreptitious opening. It isobvious, however that the sealing flap 20 may be provided with gum, ifdesired, for additional security,

though my purpose isto dispense with moisture or gum on this part. Itwill be appre- Copies of this patent may be obtained for five centseach,- by addressing the .Commissioner of Patents,

ciated that the outer or middle portion of the tongue constitutes acover for the. fastening'plate.

I claim:

1. The combination witha container hav-' other, one of the plates havinga pairof prongs directed toward the other plate and said other platehaving an anvil portion and a pair of slits at the-ends thereof throughwhich said prongs arezadapted to be forced and clenched by contact withthe anvil portion, one of said plates being slipped beneath the anchorportion of the container and the other being inserted into. the foldedtongue aforesaid, substantiallyas set forth.

2. The herein described fastener comprising a unitary sheet metalstructure bent upon itself to form a pair of plates, one; plate havingapair of prongs struck'down wardly therefrom toward the other. plate andvthe other plate having a pair of paralr lel slits through which thepoints of said prongs are adapted to be forced, that portion of thelattermentioned plate between the slits being bent away from the firstmentioned plate to form an anvil against which the pointsof the prongsare caused to im,

pinge and be bent outwardly throughthe slits.

GEORGE" F. SMITH! Witnesses:

GEO. L. BEELER, HARRY EPSTEIN.

Washington, D. C.

